Navasart, one of Armenia’s oldest and most popular holidays, is celebrated on August 11. According to legend, on that day patriarch Hayg slew the tyrant Pel and freed his family and future generations of Armenians. This year is the 9,593^rd since the birth of Vahakn, the supreme deity in the Armenian pagan pantheon. A small pagan party (“Tseghagron”) in modern Armenia advocates that the “Ughtakir,” or pagan scripture, should replace the Bible as every thinking Armenian’s handbook.

Navasart, one of Armenia’s oldest and most popular holidays, is celebrated on August 11. According to legend, on that day patriarch Hayg slew the tyrant Pel and freed his family and future generations of Armenians. This year is the 9,593^rd since the birth of Vahakn, the supreme deity in the Armenian pagan pantheon. A small pagan party (“Tseghagron”) in modern Armenia advocates that the “Ughtakir,” or pagan scripture, should replace the Bible as every thinking Armenian’s handbook.